At issue: a new contract, proposed by RiverBay, which would offer a less generous health care plan for 500 of the union’s workers. RiverBay said they also offered a 2.3% wage increase for the next four years.

On Thursday, the union, Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, filed a suit with U.S. Labor Relations Board, charging that RiverBay unlawfully locked them out of their jobs.

Co-op City building workers march near the massive housing complex in the Bronx on Tuesday.

Hundreds of Co-op City apartment building workers walked off the job as their contracts expired Tuesday, leaving one of the nation’s largest housing developments without its garbage attendants, porters, maintenance staff and groundskeepers.

The workers, armed with whistles, signs and cowbells, shouted “no contract, no work!” as they marched through the Bronx neighborhood on a scorching hot day.

The standoff between the RiverBay Corporation and SEIU’s Local 32BJ chapter — which affects almost 60,000 people — stems from the union’s displeasure with RiverDay’s proposal of slightly higher wages and a reduced health care plan for 500 workers.

“We’re basically at a place where they’re asking us to choose between feeding our families and keeping them healthy,” said Alexander Vargas, who’s worked as a groundskeeper for 19 years. “It’d be great if we could do both.”

Vargas, who attended negotiations last week, said the health-care aspect of the contract is critical to him, as he has a 7-year-old daughter with a heart condition. “She was having an EKG done while we were negotiating table,” he said, “so this is a real thing for me.”

Vernon Cooper, RiverBay’s general manager, said the company’s offer was fair. What the union wants in terms of health care “is more than we can afford,” he said. He added that the proposed yearly 2.33% wage increases for the next four years were on par with what the Realty Advisory Board, which oversees hundreds of residences in New York City, gave its workers in April.

Until a deal is reached, RiverBay Corp. will hire contractors to handle work done by the employees. Additionally, it has asked the city’s health department to declare the situation an emergency, which would allow more frequent trash pickups during the standoff. “Things could obviously get pretty ugly if those things weren’t done by someone,” said RiverBay general manager Vernon Cooper, adding that twice-a-week trash pickups wouldn’t be sufficient for the interim. Read More »